


Helping Grif

by littlemissstark315



Series: We’re not friends; we’re family [8]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Ansgt with a Happy Ending, M/M, PTSD, Trigger Warning for depression, angsty fluff, talks and mentions of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-05 05:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17319233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemissstark315/pseuds/littlemissstark315
Summary: Grif really fucking hates Valentine’s Day. For personal reasons. And Donut (with approval from Kimball) is hosting a Valentine’s Day dance. When Wash catches him in the act of ripping of the flyers Donut made he has some questions and asks him to have lunch with him.But when Grif saw the nausea inducing decorations of the mess hall he ran.Grif skipping lunch? Yeah, there’s definitely a problem.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Simmons talks of Grifs suicide, it was from a prior story that I should add to this series since I like having all my RVB stories set together but whatver, hope you enjoy it. ^_^

  
February was the worst month for Grif.

It was the only time his parents sorta got along but shortly after Valentine’s Day it went back to shit. It was even worse after they separated, always trying to make it work somehow.

When Kai was a teen she always ended up leaving him alone to go on some date with a guy she’d never see again after the stupid holiday so he was always alone on it.

And because he was alone his depression was at its worst since there was no one to distract him or entertain him.

It’s also the month where he tried to kill himself and honestly he wishes the month didn’t exist.

So when Donut started posting flyers around the base about a Valentine’s Day dance held in the newly renovated mess hall, he got defensive. “What the hell Donut? A dance? We’re not kids!”

“Well kimball said we should do something to boost morale and she approved it. It’s going to be amazing!” Grif ripped the pink flyer off the message board, ripping it up. Donut gasped. “Grif! I spent an hour printing these out!” Grif glared. “Well too bad! We’re not in fucking elementary school anymore.” He finished as he walked away.

The horrid holiday was a week away and Grif willed time to go faster to blow by it and pretend it doesn’t exist.

He found more flyers throughout the day and ripped them off the wall and into tiny pieces as well, Wash Catching him in the act. “Grif? Is there a reason you’re ripping that paper?” “Yeah. February and Valentine’s Day sucks balls and Donut wants to host a fucking dance like we’re in school.”

“I see. Guess you don’t like Valentine’s Day? I’ve never been a fan of it either.” “It’s so stupid! Just…” Grif felt himself wanting to tell Wash every reason he hates it. Hated February, it was on the tip of his tongue but he stopped himself. “It’s just stupid.”

Wash noticed the hesitation but nodded, not pressuring him into talking but he suspected he had deeper reasons for hating the holiday. “Let’s get a drink at the mess hall.” “Sounds good. I’m tired of seeing these stupid flyers.”

It the mess hall it was even worse.   
Donut must have gotten decorations (some fucking way he doesn’t know) but pink hearts floated on the ceiling, hanging by wires, a few flyers on the wall, hearts on the walls as well. It made Grifs skin crawl and he had to excuse himself from having lunch with Wash.

Wash stared as Grif left, practically running out of the room. This was more than just hating a holiday. Something happened around this time to him and Wash wishes he could talk to him about it but Grif is even worse than him when it comes to talking about emotions. Maybe Simmons could help?

Before he could go looking he felt Tucker’s arm around his shoulders. “Ready for Valentine’s Day babe? I’m gonna make you feel-“ “Stop. Now is not a good time.” Wash said, feeling bad for bursting Tucker’s bubble but Tucker didn’t take offense more than concern. “Everything ok?” Wash sighed. “With me Yes, with Grif, no. Not by a long shot.” “Did something happen?”

Wash shrugged. “Well I saw him ripping up Donuts flyers, he said it was because of how much he hates the holiday but when we came in here for lunch he ran out. He looked scared. I think something happened to him on Valentine’s Day.” Tucker frowned. “Fuck. And all this shit isn’t helping. We better talk to Simmons.”

They found Simmons working on some of the tech, holding some kind of wire in his mouth (Wash resisted the urge to lecture him on why that’s a bad idea) as Tucker greeted him. “Yo! Simmons!” Simmons saw them, taking the wire out of his mouth. “Oh. Hey guys.” Wash frowned. “We need to talk. It’s about Grif.”

Simmons raised an eyebrow. “What about Grif? Did he drink all the soda again?” “No. In fact he turned down having lunch with me.” Simmons frowned, standing. “Ok, yeah that’s weird. Did something happen between you two?”

“Other than the fact I caught him ripping up a Valentine’s flyer Donut worked on? I talked to him a little and offered that we have lunch but when we got to the mess hall and he saw all the pink decorations, he left. Do you have any idea what it could be?”

Simmons sighed. “Not really.” Tucker gave him a look. “Dude, he’s your husband, shouldn’t you know?” Simmons rolled his eyes. “Yes I should but you know how Grif is, anything that gets too deep or too emotional he closes off. He barely talks about his past even with me. I only know bits and pieces.”

Wash frowned. “Maybe I can try and talk to him. He’s helped me through some hard times, I could try returning the favor.” Simmons scoffed. “Well good luck. If he won’t talk to me he definitely won’t talk to you.” Tucker had an idea. “What about his sister? Think she could help?” Wash looked at him. “She’s all the way on another base.” “True but we could probably phone her and get her talking.”

Simmons nodded. “That could work. He’ll talk if he’s confronted about it. So if we know what happened we could help him more directly.” Wash wasn’t a huge fan of this plan but for how stubborn Grif is it’s worth a shot.

Wash talked to Kimball about calling Grifs sister and the reason for it. “So you want me to call her base, hope she’s available just because Grif doesn’t like Valentine’s Day?” Wash sighed. “It’s more than not liking a holiday. It’s become obvious something happened to him and we want to help but he won’t talk to anyone, not even Simmons. And if we know the information we could help him more directly. Simmons has stated that Grif opens up more when he’s comforted with said issue.”

She sighed. “Fine but you get one shot and you better hope she picks up. We can’t keep using the line for personal use.” “I understand.”

Kimball moved to the phone by the computer, putting in the number for Kais base. “Yes, I need to speak to Private Kaikaina Grif. Yes I can hold.” It was barely a minute before a young, bubbly voice picked up. “Private Grif!” “Hello Private, I have someone here that wants to speak to you. It’s about your brother.” “Oh my god, is he ok?” “Yes, he’s fine but Agent Washington has a few questions for you regarding him.”

“The cop? Oh, I remember him! But good, I got scared thinking he was dead or something.” “No, he’s fine. I’m handing the phone to Agent Washington now.”

She handed the phone over. “You’re lucky she picked up.” Wash took the phone and took a breath. “Hello Private Grif-“ “Just call me Kai.” “Ok..Kai..is there a reason your brother hates Valentine’s Day so much? He’s been acting very odd.” “Odd?” “Well we’ll be hosting a dance to help boost morale but it’s a Valentine’s Day dance and I caught him ripping up the flyers. And when I invited him to eat lunch with me he took off once he saw how the mess hall was decorated.”

“Yeah, he really hates Valentine’s Day.” Wash sighed. “Yeah, we got that but we don’t know why. Even his own husband doesn’t know why, he doesn’t talk about his past to anyone. Not even him. So please, any information that could help us help him would be great.”

“Well he tended to be alone on Valentine’s Day as a kid and as a teen. Mom and dad would go out, trying to fix things and I’d be out with some guy so he was probably pretty lonely which didn’t help his depression at all. I stopped him from killing himself that month.”

Washs eyes went wide. “Wait, he tried to kill himself?” “Yeah. He always pretending nothing was wrong but I heard him cry a lot when he thought he was by himself. On one of the Valentine’s Day I came back early, the date I had was awful,he took me bowling but he was like super good and wouldn’t let me win-“ “kai, you’re getting off topic. What happened?”

“Oh right! So I came home early and he wasn’t home which was weird, he was always home since he didn’t really have any friends so i called him but he didn’t pick up. I got worried so I used the GPS app he made me put on my phone and found him by a bridge that we lived near to, ready to jump. And this bridge was pretty high, he probably would have died if I hadn’t found him. I managed to talk him down but yeah, that could be what’s bugging him.”

  
Wash felt so bad, how is he supposed to help Grif with something this deep? “Thank you Kai. That information was really helpful. Hopefully we can help him.” “Yeah. He can be really stubborn.” “Yeah. He can. Uh goodbye Kai, have a good rest of your day.” “Ok! Good luck helping my brother!” Wash Couldn’t help but smile a little at her cheery voice. “Thanks.” He hung up, turning to kimball. “Thank you for this. The information I got hopefully will be useful.”

He found Tucker in the training room with some of the rookies. “Damnit Palomo! You call that a right hook?” “Sorry sir.” Palomo saw Wash walk in and smirked. “Hey, hot stuff alert.” Before Wash could give a small lecture on professionalism Tucker glared at Palomo. “Would you like to see a real right hook? Stop staring at my husband.” Palomo backed down, walking away.

Tucker walked over to him. “So? Any news?” “Yes and we were right. Something did happen. He happened.” Tucker gave him a look. “Can you stop being cryptic and tell me?” “He tried to kill himself on Valentine’s Day when he was younger.”

Tucker frowned. “Shit.” “Apparently he lived a very lonely life, had no friends other than his sister and on Valentine’s Day he was pretty much left alone which made his depression worse. Kai talked him down from a bridge.” Tucker frowned, feeling more and more hopeless. “How the fuck are we supposed to help him? I’ve never been that bad. I’ve never been suicidal.” “I haven’t either. This is becoming more hopeless the more his goes on. We should go tell Simmons what we found.”

When they told Simmons, he seemed speechless. Eyes wide and looking scared. “I mean..I shouldn’t be surprised. I knew he was suicidal before, he takes antidepressants but…attempting it twice?” Wash was taken aback. “Wait? That wasn’t his only time? He’s attempted before?”

“Yeah. In blood Gulch. He was lucky I found him in time. He pulled the trigger on his gun the same time I pushed it away. He was seconds away from not being here. If it wasn’t for that he probably would have never told me anything.” Tucker sighed, running his hands over his dreads. “Fuck man. I have literally no idea how to handle this. What do you even say to someone that feels that way?”

Wash looked between them. “I know I can start with Donut, see if he can tone it down on the decorations and flyers. Maybe he can hand them out to people personally instead of having them all over the place.” Tucker shrugged. “It’s a start.”

Simmons looked ready to run. “I better go check on Grif, he could probably use some company.” He nearly ran out of the room , scared maybe all this Valentine’s Day stuff has got to him.

When Simmons got to their bunk he stopped in front of the door, catching his breath so he can act like he didn’t just run here across the base. He opened the door and saw Grif on the bed, curled under blankets and quiet, he didn’t even greet him or call him a name. He only knew he was there by the tuffs of blank curls coming out from under the blankets.

He walked closer. “Uh Hey Grif.” He was always so fucking awkward when he dealt with Grifs depression. The only time he wasn’t is when he keeps his mediation on schedule. But Grif didn’t answer so it was a very bad day.

He has a few bad days a year, it’s just normal and they passed just as storm clouds passed. But the really bad ones were worse and he never knew of his husbands hatred for Valentine’s Day or why he hates it. He wishes he did, he could have helped him better, just stayed in and had a Lord Of The Rings marathon and pretend the holiday doesn’t exist.

He sat on the bed gently, putting his hand on his blanket covered shoulder. “You feeling ok?”   
Damnit Simmons, that was fucking stupid. Of course he isn’t. But at least it got Grif talking a bit.

“No. I’m fucking not ok.”   
He said quietly. Simmons frowned. “Why? Did something happen?”   
“You could say that. I just really hate valentines day.” “Why didn’t you tell me you hated it?” Grif groaned, hiding deeper but his voice coming out a little weaker and nearly breaking. “Just shut up. I don’t want to fucking talk about it.” “Not even if I brought you Oreos from the mess hall?”

Grif was quiet and didn’t answer. So Simmons did the only thing he thought of because he was not leaving him when he was in this state.

He laid down next to him on the bed and wrapped his arms around him. Grif bristled. “I said go away!” “No, you told me to shut up, those are two different things.” “Well it implies for you to go away.” “No it doesn’t. “ Grif groaned. “Oh my god, can you stop being a fucking nerd for five seconds?” “Nope.” Grif sighed heavily, not expecting that answer but stayed quiet.

Simmons talked. “I know you want to hide from everyone and everything because of this holiday but I’m not leaving you, not when you’re like this. I won’t let you go through it alone.” Grif but his lip, staring at the plastered wall in front of him as his eyes watered. Simmons continued. “We don’t have to talk. We can just lay here and hide from everyone.” Grif stayed silent as he ignored the tears going down his face, wetting the blanket below.

Donut was talking with some others, box of decorations in hand as Wash greeted him. “Hey Donut.” Donut smiled. “Oh hey Wash!” “Can we talk real quick?” “Of course!”

They went to a quiet corner and Wash felt bad, seeing all the decorations and flyers Donut has. “I know that this dance means a lot to you and you’re working really hard on it and we all appreciate it but would you be able to tone it down? Maybe take down the decorations until the day of the dance? Pass out the flyers personally instead of posting them everywhere?” Donut frowned. “Does this have to do with Grif?” “Yes. Wait? You knew?” “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. He was ripping up one of the flyers that I had put up.” “Wait, he ripped up more than one? Never mind that, that’s getting off topic, would you be able to take down the decorations and flyers?”

“Yeah. I can do that. Is something wrong with Grif?” Wash frowned. “Yes but I can’t say. Just that this day brings up a lot of bad memories for him.” Donut frowned. “Oh my. Poor Grif. Yeah, I can start taking them down.” Wash smiled. “Thanks a lot. I know you’ve been working hard on these decorations and flyers.” “Yes, I have but if they affect Grif that badly I don’t mind taking them down until the dance. Maybe I could make him some care package? Ah! Full of all his favorite snacks and sodas!” Wash smiled. “I’m sure it won’t go unappreciated.”

Simmons wasn’t sure how many hours went by. He ended up napping next to Grif when someone knocked on their bunks door.

Simmons was startled awake. A few red curls in his face as he sat up. Grif was awake as well but more groggily. “What’s going on?” Simmons shrugged as he got up. “I don’t know.”

He opened the door to find Donut with a box that said “cheer Grif up box” with a smile on it. “Uh donut?” “So a little bird told me Grif really hates Valentine’s Day for personal reasons. I took down all the decorations and flyers until the day of the dance and made this care package for him! It has all his favorites snacks!”

Simmons was taken aback. “Uh thank you Donut..that’s really nice. I’ll let him know about the other stuff.” Donut nodded. “Ok. Take care guys!” He said as he left.

Simmons closed the door, holding the box. Grif was sitting up which was definitely progress. “Uh this is for you.” Grif raised an eyebrow. “For me?” Simmons walked over and handing it to him. “It’s a care package of sorts. He said it has a bunch of your favorite snacks.”

Grif started opening the box and smiled. Weakly. “There’s Oreos, ooh they’re Double stuffed. Five cans of Pepsi cherry, ho-hos, man, he stuffed a lot of snacks into here.” “Want me to pop in some Star Wars?” “Go for it.” Simmons smiled as he got the DVDs. Yeah, this was definitely progress in the right direction. He just hoped it kept up until after the holiday. 


	2. Chapter 2

  
February 14th

Grif made better progress as the days went on. Thanks to Simmons and having little movie marathons and debates he nearly forgot about the holiday.

Until he walked into the mess hall and saw Donut and a few others putting the decorations back up, getting it ready for the dance he forgot about. He felt panic start to claw at his chest, his heart feeling like it may beat out of his chest. Donut saw him and was about to greet him when he ran out of the room. Donut frowned, worried about his friend.

As he ran out he had to stop, feeling like he couldn’t breath, tears welled up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Grif? Are you ok?” It was Wash. Of fucking course it was Wash.

Grif glared but it came off weak. “I’m fucking fine.” He started to walk away when Wash stopped him. “I can tell you’re not. Why can’t you talk to me? We’re friends right?” Washs asked gently but worried.

Grif has helped him many times, they’ve had small one-on-one talks but why can’t he talk to him now?

Grif remained silent, unknowing what to answer when Wash spoke quietly. “I know why you hate Valentine’s Day. I know you tried to kill yourself.” Grifs eyes got wide. “How…how do you know that?” “We talked with your sister. We wanted to help you but you refuse to talk to anyone. If it makes you feel any better about it Kimball gave us hell for it.” “Us?”

Wash sighed. “Myself, Simmons and Tucker.” Grif wiped his eyes, looking to the ground. “So that’s why he was suddenly so affectionate.” Grif said, ignoring how his hands continued to shake. Wash raised an eyebrow. “Suddenly affectionate?”

Grif nodded but Wash could tell he was hurt. “If you haven’t noticed we’re not exactly the most touchy-feely couple. So for him to suddenly lay in bed with me, all day, holding me. Was a bit odd. Not unwelcome though but I wish it didn’t have some ulterior motive.”

Wash frowned. “He just wanted to make sure you were ok, that this day wouldn’t set you off to do something stupid.” “Yeah, only when he found out what actually happened. No one gives a shit until someone wants to off themselves and suddenly everyone cares about them.” Grifs words came out harsh and eyes watery. “If you wanted to help me you should have stuck to not giving a shit.” He said before turning and walking down the hall.

Wash hated he felt hurt by his words but knew it was just Grifs own hurt talking. He had to find Simmons and fix this.

Simmons was at a loss, after hearing what Wash said Grif did. “How am I supposed to help? All I know how to take care of someone with depression is make sure they take their medicine and cuddle them until they feel better.” “Well he thinks you don’t care and you need to figure it out. I know Grif doesn’t really talk about himself other than liking food or napping but I think he’s more affectionate than you think and maybe more romantic too.”

Simmons raise an eyebrow. “Romantic? Grif?” Wash gave him a look. “I’m just trying to help. He hides everything away. Just try something sweet or something.” Simmons sighed. “I guess but what?” “That’s for you to figure out.” Simmons huffed. “Thanks for the help.”

Now Simmons felt at a loss. If Grif really wanted more affection or romance why couldn’t he just say so? Is that really his problem?

Simmons was looking for Tucker but couldn’t find him. Because if romance and affection was Grifs issue right now he needed help. He found Donut hanging some pink and white streamers. “Hey Donut, have you seen Tucker? I really need to speak with him.” “Is it about Grif?” “Yes, I really need to find him, do you know where Tucker is?”

Donut walked down from his ladder and gave him a look. “If it’s about Grif why do you need Tucker? Why don’t you talk to Grif? After all, he is your husband.” Simmons sighed. “Wash thinks Grif is upset because I’m not affectionate or romantic enough and I don’t know anything about being romantic or affectionate.”

Donut shrugged. “Well in my opinion I don’t think you need Tucker or Wash. You need to talk to Grif. I know you two, even in marriage you two are emotionally constipated and you’re going to have to face the fact of how much you actually care about him. I’m not telling you where Tucker is or Wash, talk to Grif yourself. That’s all he wants. He’s not a charity case, he’s your husband and he’s hurting. Now go find him before I throw you out of here. I still have to get the tables set up.”

Simmons was at a loss but Donut made a good point he never thought of, and felt like an idiot.

He found Grif in their bunk, curled up again under blankets. He took a deep breath before he spoke. “Grif..I’m sorry.” Grif was silent but he sniffled and Simmons is sure he heard a whimper. “When I knew something was wrong with you I should have just come to you. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back with Tucker and Wash to find out information. Even though you hide everything like a damn cat, I should have respected that. Can you please sit up and look at me? I hate talking to you like this.”

Grif sniffled and Simmons saw movement of him wiping his eyes as he sat up, Turing around, black curls in his face and not willing to move them. But Simmons saw how red his eyes have gotten from the tears and how red his nose was.

He sat down, gently moving his hair from his face, seeing him more clearly made his heart ache. Other than his depression flaring up Simmons can’t remember the last time he looked this hurt. “God..I’m a fucking idiot. I’m sorry for invading your privacy and getting information you wanted hidden. I should have talked to you and respected when you didn’t want to talk about it. You know I care about you right?”

Grifs eyes welled up as he looked away. “It would be nice if you showed it.” He said quietly, voice thick. He swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. “I mean, it may have been a fucking awful day a few days ago with my depression but you staying in bed with me, that was the best thing that’s happened this week to me. And then I find out it was because you went behind my back and found out why I hate this holiday…”

Simmons was about to speak when Grif stood, not even wiping at the tears in his eyes that turned angry. “It just proves I was right: no one gives a shit about me until suddenly I’m an inch away from killing myself and suddenly everyone cares. Nobody fucking cares-“ “I fucking care!” Simmons shot up from the bed, glaring his husband down.

“Why do you think I kissed you or asked you out on a date or fucking married you?!” Simmons got closer in two strides, holding Grifs face in his hands. “I care about you more than I ever thought possible to care about someone. I love you and I’m an idiot for not showing it better. But don’t you ever think I don’t care about you. I’d take a thousand bullets for you if it meant you were safe.”

Grif snorted but gave a watery smile, weakly. “Little Little Overdramatic. I love you too.” “I’m gonna be better. I’m gonna show you more I care, I’m gonna be more romantic-“ “wait, romantic?” Grif said, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh Yeah, isn’t that how you show someone you love them?” Grif sighed. “I’m not even going to stop you, this I gotta see.” Simmons gave him a look. “I’m trying to apologize here.” “And I’m starving.” Simmons rolled his eyes but inwardly felt relief, glad this hasn’t gotten to his husband. “You’re always starving fat ass.” “Well I’m not stepping foot into that mess hall.” Simmons was about to ask when he remembered about the dance and the decorations. “Oh yeh.”

“Yeah so I’m doomed to starve to death because of Donuts stupid dance.”

They sat back down on the bed, Simmons holding him close, cuddled together when he had an idea. “I have an idea.” “Is it you getting me food?” “What? No, maybe. Just..have you thought of maybe giving this holiday a good memory?” Grif raised an eyebrow and Simmons continued. “I mean since we’ll be on Chorus for a while Donut will probably make this dance an annual thing and maybe it could help if you moved past the bad memories it brings up? Make some new ones?”

“Are…are you asking me to go to Donuts stupid Valentine’s Day dance?” Simmons blushed. “Sorta but if you say no I promise we can just watch some movies and snuggle.” Grif looked like he was thinking about it. “Fine but only if you go get me some lunch. I won’t attempt to set foot in there until we go tonight.” Simmons rolled his eyes but smiled. “Fine. Deal. I’ll be back with half the mess hall.” Grif grinned. “You know me so well.”

Simmons walked into the mess hall, getting a balanced lunch along with some snacks to tide his husband over until tonight. While the mess all attendants got his order he had a thought. “Hey Donut, you have real flowers for this thing?” “Of course! Can’t have romance without actual flowers.” Simmons nodded, thinking of an idea, wondering if Grif would like it.

He did a little research and and asked Donut if they had those flowers. Donut smiled. “Why Simmons are you doing something romantic for hubby?” Simmons blushed. “Do you have them or not? Preferably in yellows and reds and oranges.” “Yes, yes I ordered many flowers of every color. Kimball didn’t like it but couldn’t argue since everyone is loving them!”

Simmons cleared his throat. “Can you make something for me, it won’t be needed until tonight.” Donut looked around at the mess hall, it was pretty much done. “I have time, of course I’ll help.” Simmons breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much Donut, I just hope this helps.”

Simmons and Grif stayed inside until the dance started and Grif felt himself shaking as he dressed Nicely, having to dig them back out from behind the closet. Simmons has left a half hour ago to shower, wanting to “be fresh” for the dance.

There was a knock on his door. “Who is it?” He made a habit of asking. “It’s your husband.” Grif rolled his eyes, walking over and opening the door, about to give him some sort of burn or call him a name for knocking on their own door when he saw Simmons in his suit, blushing and holding a bouquet of Orange, yellow and red hibiscuses. “Huh..” is all that came out.

Simmons cleared his throat. “Here. There Hawaii’s national flower. Thought you might like to have a little piece of home.” Grif wasn’t sure what to say to that. He took the bouquet gently, holding it and just staring. When was the last time he actually saw a real flower let alone the ones from his home?

He felt touched, he smiled softly as he held them. “This is probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever done. Fucking nerd.” Simmons smiled, relived Grif liked them, liked the idea. He held out his elbow.

“Well..shall we dance?” Grif smiled as he brought his arm around said elbow. “Let go tear up the dance floor.”

Grif was all confidence until they got in front of the actual door for the mess hall. It was open and he could see everyone inside, dancing, talking, laughing, even Tucker and Wash were being disgustingly cute.   
But Grifs hands were shaking. His anxiety starting to prickle and vibrate all over.

Simmons saw this. “We don’t have to. I won’t be mad if we go back to the room and watch movies.” “No. You’re right. This day for me has been nothing but shitty memories. I need some new ones.” He gave Simmons a look before leading them both inside.

After a minute of being inside the dance Grif was calming. This wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, he actually feels like a kid again, in a good way. Donut came over. “You guys made it! Food and drink is over there, have fun you two!”

Before Grif could fully relax and get some food Wash and Tucker came jogging over. Wash spoke first. “Grif! You’re actually here?” Grif sighed. “It was his idea. I just went with it. He made a point: this day has always been shitty, its time to make some good memories.”

Wash smiled. “That’s great. And listen, I’m sorry about everything. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back to help you. We just wanted to help and we know you don’t exactly open up easily.” Grif sighed. “Nope I don’t but apology accepted. So other than this dance has Tucker done something for you for this holiday?”

Wash blushed. “You could say that.” Grif laughed and Simmons blushed and Tucker Grinned, arm wrapped around Washs shoulders. “Surprised you guys didn’t hear it.” “Tucker!” Wash hissed out.

Grif shrugged. “Well I was a little busy having an emotional breakdown. But I’m fine, I’m starving and I’m going to enjoy myself.” Wash smiled, still blushing from Tucker’s comments. “That’s good.” Suddenly a slow song came on, making the room a different vibe than when Grif walked in.

Tucker gave Wash a soft look. “Dance with me?” “I’ve been dancing with you for the past half hour. Yes, I’ll dance with you.”

Grif watched as they went to the dance floor, hand in hand, Tucker’s hands on Washs waist, trying to inch lower when Simmons brought him out of his thoughts. “Would you like to dance?” Grif looked between the dance floor and Simmons. “Sure. Let me put these flowers down.” He put them on the snack table and let Simmons lead him.

Once Simmons had his hands on his waist, Grifs hands on his shoulders, he heard the lyrics of the song and knew what it was. “Wait? Is this take on me?” “I guess, I wasn’t really listening to it. If it is, it’s a nice cover.” Grif was silent as they swayed, listening to the music when Simmons tilted his head to look at him.

Grif swallowed, he felt like one of those girls from those stupid romance movies but fuck it was a nice feeling.

“I love you, you know that right?” Simmons asked. Grif smiled softly. “Yeah. I do.” Simmons smiled as he leaned down, kissing him softly while Grif deepened the kiss. Before it could get dirty Simmons pulled away and held Grif closer, close enough Grif could hear his heartbeat.

Maybe Valentine’s Day wasn’t so bad after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song they dance to is the cover of “Take in me” from deadpool 2. If you don’t know it go look it up, amazing and emotional cover.


End file.
